10 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I26 



in 1950 and previous years and at Boysen Reservoir in 1950 was well 

 along, but it was believed that a more coherent presentation of arche- 

 ology in the northwestern Plains would result from the incorporation 

 into a single report of the description of these areas and of the Key- 

 hole Reservoir, investigated in 195 1. Similarly, although a summary 

 report on the historic sites investigations in the Fort Randall Reser- 

 voir was completed and made available to the historians of the Na- 

 tional Park Service, the compilation of a report for publication seemed 

 undesirable pending more definitive results from excavation and 

 documentary research. 



Assistance was provided in the preparation of the report on the 

 extensive excavations in the Medicine Creek Reservoir in 1948. 

 Primary responsibility for the report on investigations accomplished 

 under his supervision had been assumed by Marvin F. Kivett, who 

 left the employ of the River Basin Surveys in 1949 and has since 

 served as director of the Nebraska State Historical Society Museum. 

 With the assistance of George Metcalf of the project staff, he made 

 material progress on the report, although only a small proportion of 

 his time was available for that activity. 



Members of the stafif participated in the meetings of the Eighth 

 Plains Conference for Archeology, held in Lincoln in November 

 1950, and in the sessions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences in 

 1950 and 1951. In addition, they made several appearances before 

 interested groups to explain the work of the River Basin Surveys. 

 Also in the field of interpretation of the program, occasional exhibits 

 were developed and installed in the project headquarters or in such 

 places as the observation building at the Oahe Dam. An exposition 

 of the salvage program in the Medicine Creek Reservoir, utilizing an 

 automatic slide projector, was developed jointly by the project and 

 the University of Nebraska State Museum and installed in the latter 

 institution. 



The laboratory cooperated throughout 1950 and 195 1 with the 

 various State agencies participating in the salvage program by pro- 

 viding maps, photographs, and site records, as needed, as well as by 

 making collections available on a loan basis. 



FIELDWORK AND EXPLORATIONS 



During each of the years 1950 and 195 1, the field activities of the 

 Missouri Basin Project included archeological reconnaissance, in- 

 tensive excavation of selected sites, and paleontological exploration. 

 The primary emphasis was on excavation, but throughout each sum- 



